This invention relates to devices for advertising and gripping bag handles to shield a person""s hand when lifting and carrying the bag. More particularly, this invention relates to devices adapted to be installed on plastic bag handles, which present a medium for advertising.
Bags are commonly provided to a purchaser of goods to carry the goods out of the retail establishment. In most grocery and department stores, plastic shopping bags are provided with carrying handles that are uncomfortable to grasp when the bags contain heavy articles. Plastic bags are fabricated from flexible plastic film and are formed so that a pair of plastic film webs are provided as handles, one on each side at the top of a bag opening. The plastic bags are very light, yet very strong, and do not break easily even when wet as do conventional paper bags. Therefore, the use of plastic bags in the grocery industry has become common place.
As a consequence of the strength of the plastic bags, many retail establishments such as grocery stores and supermarkets are able to load a significant amount of items in the bag. In addition, customers desire that the bags be loaded to reduce the number of bags necessary for carrying the contents as well as the number of trips necessary for transporting the contents into their homes. In carrying out these objectives, customers often carry more than one plastic bag at the same time in carrying the goods from the customer""s automobile or bus to their destination. Unfortunately, in situations where the bag is heavily loaded, which is often, the bag handles become tightly drawn. Therefore, the handles become more like a string or wire which digs or cuts into the user""s hand and fingers, and which can become painful after a fairly short period of time. Although the user could carry the load without fear of breakage and save a number of trips, there is discomfort to the user""s hand making it difficult to carry the bag(s) for an appreciable distance.
In addition, when a person grasps the handles to lift the weighted bag, the person tends to make a closed fist that results in the fingers forming an approximately straight lifting channel about the bag handles. Consequently, the flexible handles, when the weighted bag is lifted, bear disproportionately against the outer sides of the person""s index and pinkie fingers. The degree of discomfort imposed on the person lifting and carrying a weighted bag is sufficiently extreme that the bag cannot be filled to its capacity with articles that, in the aggregate, are too heavy. Clerks that fill these shopping bags know this and, therefore, often not only do not fill the bags to their capacity but, rather, significantly under-fill the bags. This results in the use of unnecessary bags, further reducing grocers already low profit margins.
Various attempts have been made to incorporate plastic handles into such shopping bags in an effort to distribute the load more evenly in a user""s hand. One such attempt is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,522 to Lisbon. The Lisbon patent discloses a handle formed from a generally rectangular sheet of pliable material that can be tri-folded to form a handle. Lisbon fails to solve the problems created by plastic bag handles. For example, when the Lisbon handle is applied to a plastic bag it forms a handle with sharp edges. Consequently, when the consumer lifts the plastic bags using the Lisbon handle, the weight of the bags will cause the handle to move into a vertical position whereby the sharp edges will be positioned vertically. In this position, the sharp edges dig into the user""s fingers and palm, causing extreme discomfort.
Various types of padding can be added to the bag handles, or the user can wear gloves. However, this can be costly, inconvenient, and may still cause discomfort in carrying the bags. Other types of hand grips have been proposed for solving the problems presented by plastic shopping bags. However, some such hand grips are cumbersome to apply and will not remain attached to the bag handles when the bag is set down, resulting in misplacement of the hand grip. These types of hand grips, may fall off the bag handles entirely, or become partially dislodged, necessitating their re-attachment when the bag is to be lifted again. Some handles once applied, are cumbersome to remove Since shopping bags are provided with two handles, on each side of a bag opening, when the two handles are brought together and confined by a hand grip device, access to the bag""s interior is substantially reduced or eliminated until the hand grip is detached from one or both bag handles.
This is especially the case in U.S. Pat. No. 5,658,029 to Franko. Franko discloses a generally elliptical handle with asymmetrical adjacent walls. Franko attempts to eliminate the disadvantages associated with the Lisbon design by including a flat section for resting in the user""s hand. However, the Franko design contains a locking mechanism that includes a tab with notched edges for insertion into a slot. A locking mechanism of this type makes it extremely cumbersome to disengage the handle. Furthermore, the pull through tab presents a pointed or sharp edge to the hand when the device is fully gripped. The locking mechanism in Franko also limits the amount of advertising surface available, obstructing the majority of usable surface area. Additionally, the Franko design contains an elongated flat surface where the plastic bag handles rest. The elongated flat surface must be of a length that allows the plastic bag handles to hang properly without placing undue tearing force on the surface. The elongated flat surface in Franko is created in such a fashion that the force of the bag handle pulling on the surface will cause it to weaken the protective surface. If the weight of the bag is great enough, the plastic material will cut through the pliable fiberboard or cardboard.
Hand grips that have been proposed are often cumbersome to store in a convenient manner where they must be applied by clerks. Additionally, the hand grips are too expensive to use in such common environments as the checkout stands of grocery stores, and similar kinds of stores where profit margins are relatively low. Store owners are reluctant to purchase the proposed hand grips because they cut into already low margins of profit.
Because of these deficiencies in the hand grips currently proposed, no hand grips are in wide use in the market, and virtually none of them are in use in low profit margin retail stores, such as grocery stores. It is difficult to sway grocers and other stores to purchase the handles.
This invention resolves the above-mentioned disadvantages. First, it overcomes the disadvantages of current handle grips in the market. Second, it provides a device for advertising that is cost effective and reaches a large audience. Third, it provides a method of business that resolves the issues surrounding the reluctance of store owners from purchasing the handle grips.
This handle is formed from a sheet of pliable material having a periphery with two opposed convex edges separated by two opposed concave edges. Two parallel fold-lines join the concave edges. When the sheet is folded, the body forms symmetrical walls that are fastened together using a tab, located on the edge of one symmetrical wall of the handle, and a groove formed on the edge of the second symmetrical wall of the handle, for receiving the tab. In its folded state, the handle resembles a taco shell with a bite taken from each end. The bite resemblance is formed by the two opposing concave edges and help to limit the length of the flat base formed by the space between the parallel fold lines. A correct base length allows the bag handles to naturally droop from the weight of the contents, so that the taut bag handles do not cut through the pliable body material or weaken the bottom handle section.
This design further allows for unobstructed advertisement on both outside surfaces of the handle as well as on both inside surfaces of the handle. For example, an advertisement for Pizza Hut can be placed on the outside surface of one side of the handle and a coupon for a dollar off a large pizza pie can be printed on the adjacent inner surface of the same side of the handle. The use of a coupon allows an advertiser to evaluate the effectiveness of its promotional campaign by measuring the number of coupons redeemed. Advertising can also be placed on the inside and outside surfaces of the base of the handle. Therefore, three separate entities can advertise on a single handle device.
This invention also solves the market penetration problem experienced with low margin grocers and other stores. Because advertising revenue is generated by the seller of the handles, the seller can penetrate the market by giving the handles away freely to grocers or other stores that use plastic bags or, in some instances, by paying retailers to distribute the handles. Therefore, the stores do not experience expenses that further reduce profit margins and are more likely to use the device.
Accordingly, the objects of this invention are as follows:
to provide a gripping bag handle that protects the hands of a user carrying one or more heavily loaded plastic carrier bags;
to provide a gripping bag handle that is durable and reliable in operation;
to provide a gripping bag handle that locks the handles of a bag closed so that the contents of the bag does not fall out;
to provide a gripping bag handle that can be quickly and easily incorporated for use with conventional plastic shopping bags;
to provide a gripping bag handle that is simple and convenient in its use, yet cost-effective in its manufacture;
to provide a medium for advertising that is cost effective and reaches a large audience;
to provide a method of advertising that allows the advertiser to evaluate the effectiveness of the advertisement campaign; and
to provide a method of business allowing the distributor of the handle apparatus to sell advertising space on the handle and freely give the apparatus to retailers or pay them to use it.
Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawings and the claims.